Talking With The Taliban

Oh snap!

Sounds kinda, whale, creepy!

Seriously - chatting with headchoppers and girl hating girl killers like it was the Congress of Europe or sump?

As if! 

Taliban leadership will have to abandon its goal of eliminating Afghanistan’s post-2001 government and constitution and definitively break with al-Qaeda; Pakistan’s military and intelligence elite will have to conclude that such a settlement is in their interest. 

There’s next to no evidence that the Taliban is prepared to undertake such dramatic reversals of its ideologies and alliances, or that it is close to being defeated on the battlefield. So the challenge for the United States will be to avoid allowing the talks to devolve into a Great Satan-Taliban discussion about an abandonment of the NATO commitment to continue supporting the Afghan military with trainers and advisers after 2014. As it is, early talks may be diverted into bargaining over a prisoner exchange that would free Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a captive U.S. soldier. 

If there is to be a genuine political settlement in Afghanistan, Great Satan must drive home a different message: that it will do what is necessary to prevent a Taliban military victory for the indefinite future. If the insurgents believe they can wait out — or negotiate out — Great Satan, they will never engage seriously with the Karzai government.

Pic - "Seriously Unserious"